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Southeast Oregon Plans a Coyote Killing Derby this Weekend

Beginning this weekend, hunters in southeast Oregon will host a killing derby, where "as many coyotes as possible" will be killed for prizes such as rifles, binoculars and scopes.

According to a 13 January Big Game Hunt notice, the derby will run from 16 January through the 17th throughout Lake, Malheur, Harney, and Klamath counties. The event will be headquartered in Silver Lake, Oregon, where the final winners will be determined.

For a simple fee of $50.00, two-person teams will be permitted to kill as many coyotes as humanly possible for these prizes. Big Game Hunt will determine the winners by the number of severed ears each hunter presents.

Friends of Animals' president Priscilla Feral urges the public to contact the Oregon Fish and Wildlife Commission and the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife (ODFW) to object to the killing contest, and to publicly state that they do not condone, support, or sponsor hunts that molest coyotes, and patronize hunters to revive an ailing hunting industry.

"That a state government agency would foster such a puerile, violent form of entertainment is morally unacceptable, and the logic behind it is nonsense. No one has undertaken a scientific study on the effects of the random killing of coyotes. In fact, as coyotes flee human threat, they regroup and reproduce, without the natural selection and competition of a large community of coyotes."

Oregon is appeasing hunters in the state, who make up only 6 percent of the residents who are licensed.

Feral added, "Moreover, coyotes have been an important selective factor which have helped the deer and elk to evolve, and maintain them as the alert, robust and hardy animals that they are. Perhaps after removing a large number of coyotes, the wildlife agency will then be announcing that there are too many deer and elk - and offer another opportunity for hunters to renew their hunting licenses, with revenues channeled to the wildlife agency."

Comments

Submitted by Matthew McLaughlin on Wed, 2010-01-27 00:37

There is something wrong with killing animals. The killing of an animal can only be justified under extraordinary circumstances (e.g. in self-defense).
Sam mentions that "over population is a problem." This statement begs the question, how many coyotes are too many? In the case of Oregon, I believe the declaration that there are too many coyotes is more a reflection of communities intolerance of coyotes than overpopulation.
The coyote "derby" (it's more appropriate to refer to this activity by what it actually is, a kill) is a fundraiser, in honor of a person who died of cancer (http://bit.ly/88YrHA). It's unclear to me from reports about the coyote kill if the kill is meant to raise funds for cancer. If so, there are certainly many ways in which to raise money for cancer awareness, treatment or research that do not include slaughtering coyotes, such as community walks/runs or coin drops. I'm sure that many more fundraising ideas could be thought of.
Coyotes are hunted primarily because they prey upon animals that human exploit for food. This is a false dilemma. In order to resolve the conflict between humans and coyotes, the answer is simple: stop exploiting cows, sheep, chickens and other animals for food. In the meantime, the remaining animals can be protected from the coyotes through using fences and electronics guards.
Coyotes plan an important role in the ecosystem. As versatile predators, they check the populations of animals such as voles, prairies dogs and other rodents. If a significant portion of the coyote population is removed, there can be many unintended conseqeunces to the area's ecosystem.

Humans still haven't realized that animals have feelings, intelligence and a soul like we do. We are invading the territories they had long before we got there. I think humans are the only ones who don't know their place on this planet.

There is nothing wrong with killing animals it is the pure fact that over population is a problem.
FoA comments:
There is certainly something very wrong with human interference in the balance of nature. It's a tragedy repeated over and over again and must be stopped.

This is a disgusting disgrace done out of a warped sense of competition and greed and should be stopped. Coyotes have every right to be here on this earth as we do. We have screwed up the ecosystem enough as it is.

Thank you Friends of Animals for your hard work and dedication to protecting animals. This situation with the coyote is sad and needs to be fought. Thank you for providing contact information so that we can voice our concerns.

The derby begins tomorrow, so please call the ODFW and your local newspapers right away. Also, kindly spread the word through Facebook, Twitter and MySpace.
Let's use our voices to stop this cruel hunt from going forward.

There is nothing wrong with killing animals it is the pure fact that over population is a problem.
Human beings encroach into a wild animalâ€™s territory and build cities and malls and parking lots using thousands of trees to do so and in doing so the population of coyotes have exploded and are threatening animal loverâ€™s house cats and lap dogs. Yet you complain about hunters killing the coyotes to keep their growing numbers down. Well then you can be the ones to sacrifice your pets and children to these wild animals that are threatening urban areas and so you know itâ€™s not a tragedy its a necessary way of life. The populations of human beings have exploded in the last hundred years and have caused some animals to become extinct but on the other side that not because of hunters in most cases its people like all of you that live in city suburbs that help to the deforestation of these animals natural habitats yet I don't see any of you giving up your houses to give back to these animals. Is it you animal rights activists that help pay for the fish and game department that helps save thousands of animals lives or is it you hypocrites that help pay for the beautiful that the wild animals do have to run around in? no you people do help with any of that contraire to your belief what pays for that isn't your taxes its all the money that the fish and game make from hunting and fishing licenses but you don't mention anything about that you also don't mention anything about what the fish and game are having a massive coyote hunt but you don't you are to one sided and can't look at any of the true facts about hunting so why don't you all go do some actual research and get all the facts before you start spouting a bunch of lies about hunters and hunting.
[FoA comments: There is something wrong with human interference in the balance of nature. Itâ€™s a tragedy repeated over and over again.]